Look over your conditions, then. Put the proper safety devices on the machine, the tools, etc. Install the vacuum cleaners that will collect the dust and lint. Put the goggles or nostril-guard, or other device, on the worker, that will insure to him clean air and decent working conditions. Make a scientific attack upon the problem later, but put in a safety device now, even if you have to change some of it next week. You will gain the immediate return that will make the investigation pay from every standpoint in the changed attitude of your workers, if in nothing else. The Museum of Safety Devices, with its energetic and enthusiastic secretary, will show you what has been done and what can be done in the line of safety. “Safety First” has become the slogan of the day. If we make it “Safety First, beginning now,” we shall have full working directions.
The Work Place.
The working conditions that we have so far discussed have more or less effect upon all of the workers in a group. We come next to the inspection of the work place of each individual worker. The first consideration here is that he have room enough in which to work. There is an enormous amount of fatigue involved in doing work in an overcrowded work place, yet few workers or managers realize this. Again, habit is involved here, and the habit of order demands that the work place be kept in an orderly condition. Any one who has walked through factories, shops, or any places where work is going on must have noted the tired appearance of the workers among what is called “clutter.” The girl selling ribbon, who walks up and down behind the counter through an accumulation of paper, cardboard cores, and other odds and ends, has not only the bodily fatigue of pushing the clutter ahead, or kicking it aside, but also the mental fatigue that comes from adjusting herself constantly to such conditions. The folder of cloth, who has barely enough room to move her hands because of the supply of finished and unfinished materials, is fatigued from the clumsy position, even though she and no one else realizes this. The office worker, whose finished and unfinished papers are heaped in confusion before him, expends not only useless motions in getting at and disposing of what he wishes to handle, but also mental energy, in constantly adjusting and readjusting himself to the work. There has been a popular idea that it “looked busy” to have plenty of work around, that to see work to be done would impress both managers and workers with the need for applying themselves to the work more constantly and with considerably more speed. This may be true if the work is arranged in an orderly fashion, but disorderly work is far more likely to discourage than to stimulate the worker. As for completed work, there is no excuse for leaving large quantities of it at the work place one moment longer than is absolutely necessary. Any encouragement that it might give the worker could better be given by a record of what he has done.
The Work-bench or Table.
Few work-benches or tables should be considered as absolutely satisfactory that do not permit the worker to do his work standing or sitting. Our ideas as to proper work-benches or tables, and as to the proper placing, height, etc., of machinery and tools have too often been prescribed to us by the manufacturers of the articles, who have thought more of what was convenient to manufacture than of what was least fatiguing to use. Such manufacturers are not to be blamed in the least for their attitude. They, naturally, have been guided by what would sell best. They have, as a rule, shown themselves more than willing to supply any legitimate demand. The user must demand what will be best for his work. It is no slight, short-time job to determine the proper height, positioning, and layout of a work-bench, using this term in a general sense to cover the place of any kind of work upon which the worker is engaged. As preliminary work, we may, usually, then, boost everything that can be so lifted to such a height that the worker, at his option, may stand or sit. If it becomes a case of single choice, that is, his either standing or sitting, arrange the work so that he does it sitting, and does the necessary standing or moving about during his rest periods.
Fig. 7
This picture shows the “Gilbreth” table laid down in its lower position. This table is particularly adapted for a work-bench or table where it is desired to have two different heights for different kinds of work. The table and its load can be picked up with a booster truck in either this position or the higher position simply by operating the lever of the booster truck and without touching the table at all.
Fig. 8
This picture shows the “Gilbreth” table standing in its higher position.
